, 1887-05-18
A sreRY oE The LAKES.

PerIlous Times, when Ordinary sailors
Receive tho Full Pay of n Captain.
'I'm an able seauIan, l am, and no
better ever slowed a fore royal, but $13 a
month don't get me to sign in such
weather as this, l kin tell yer. l didn't
ref~ss S. a day tar ship in December to
tax less than one-tenth of that ere sum
in March. Yer may call me a bun or
anything yer like, young Teller, but on
my last trip l had captains wages, an l
guess ther December gales hain't no wuss
than these ere March winds"
The speaker, q little dried up old fellow,
had applied at a down own station house
for lodging, and the above was in answer
to a question from a reporter who vas
present and asked him what his business
was. The fellow s assertion that he had
received a captains pay for a sailors
work, and that he had refused more han
a captains pay, provoked the sergeant at
the desk, and he babe the seeker after
shelter TO get out, saying that a man who
would lie would steal. Something in the
man, however, interested the reporter,
and he followed him out into the bluster-
ing night wind.
mo one ever gains anything by lying
to an officer, " the reporter ventured to
remark as he helped the old man open
the outer door of the station.
~"l.yin'l lyin'l who dares say I'm a
lYin'l l hain't ter blame fer the iger-
nance o. tibet ERE Teller, be II Kin I
help if his edoocation is so limited tibet he
don't know tibet ther is times when
sailors gifts more money than captains
an -
''See here, my friend" returned the
reporter, II am just as ignorant. : Now,
il you will tell me how, when and why
q sailor is thus used l will see you COM
fortably fixed for bed and food for the
rest of the week"
''Well, young Teller, if l was COM
fortably liked l could do it, but out ere
in this ere bitin' wind-ughi it amt ter
be tho't Of"
The scribe took the hint, and after get
ting the old salt thawed out and well fed
at a Cherry street hotel, was told the fol-
lowing facts, of which up to that time he
had never before heard: About the lat
ter part of November or the first of De-
cember in each year the ships engaged in
navigating the great lakes hurry toward
their destination to escape the December
gales. The chances are about one to six
when a vessel quits a harbor at this time
of the year that she will never be seen
again. A sailor estimates that his chances
# getting back to his family are about
five out of six. Merchants and manu-
~facturers are solicitous about their
cargoes. Shippers would feel much safer
if their coal or grain or ore was on the
piers. Nothing is more t~reacherous than
the weather hat hovers over the five
great lakes and is ready to send a ship &c
the bottom on ten minutes notice. 1t is
a matter Of history that gales have
sprung up on Lake Superior and Lake
Huron and wrecked vessels before the
wheelmen could shift their course a single
point. The insurance on all vessels
pires about Nov. 80, and in consequence
owners are anxious to get their craft into
"A safe harbor.
Commencing about Nov. /, sailors be
longing to the union receive 81 per day.
Those employed by the Vesselmen's asso-
citation are paid from 1915 to So per day.
They are hired from trip to trip, and the
association pays whatever it is obliged to.
-Four dollars per day is said to be the
average pay drawn by seamen during the
last three, four or five weeks Of naviga.
ton. The captains and mates do moi
profit correspondingly, because they are
paid 30 much a month for the season,
which means from the time the vessel
leaves port in the spring to the time she
is chained up for the winter. The
sailors wages fluctuate, and just before
the final tie up they often earn better pay
than the captain. To venture on the
lakes after Nov. 90 is virtually to take
ones life in his own hand. The fright.
full disasters and heavy loss Of life attend,
ing the close of navigation last December
has not been equaled in many years. A
season on the lakes never winds up with,
out many casualties and a great loss OF
life. The sailors know this, and yet the
cheerful jingle Of the gold induces SOM
Of them to take the risk and helps to heal
unpleasant memories of hardship If they
come back safe and sound. Others cannot
be induced to ship even by the offer OF
$40 per day, but they will sit around the
cheerful CRATE fires that sputter and
crackle in the big offices and warehouses
along the river waste at the different
ports and spin yarns about the fearful
gales they rave weathered in the past.
Some of these stories bring tears into the
eyes of men whose hearts are vaguely
supposed to be of flint. Others are anus.
ing and are generally told at the expense
Of some other sailor. In this way they
pass the winter, content to be ordinary
land lubbers until the ice gets out of the
way in the spring time and they car
venture out beyond the breakwater with
out fear of being swamped.-New York
Mail and Express.